The course content focuses on recognizing, analyzing, and utilizing rhetorical strategies effectively in written discourse. The course places a strong emphasis on writing process, including drafting, revising, and editing. Students research and analyze texts on selected topics, ultimately constructing an in-depth research project.
The learning objectives of WRTG 1150 are:
-
Develop rhetorical knowledge
-
Analyze texts in a variety of genres
-
Refine and reflect on the writing process
-
Develop information literacy
-
Construct effective and ethical arguments
-
Understand and apply language conventions rhetorically
Students in this section of WRTG 1150 will work with at-risk teenagers who are paired through Boulder Voices for Children, CASA a local nonprofit that that supports abused and neglected youth by providing trained, court-appointed volunteers to advocate for and mentor children as they endure the legal processes around removal and to change the trajectory of each child’s life going forward. Working with Boulder Voices for Children to identify young people who would most benefit from writing support and peer mentorship, I will pair each student in the class with an at-risk teenager. Based on in-class reading and writing assignments, the students will use their learned understanding of trauma’s effects on education to better support their mentee. The students will work with their mentee to draft, revise, and finalize professional writing documents that effectively employ rhetorical strategies to increase their chances of success in college admission or job placement. The benefits of the mentor-mentee relationships that the students will form through Boulder Voices for Children is two-fold: first, the partnership creates a mutually beneficial relationship, which affords mentees writing support from students who have recently gone through the college application process themselves and it provides CU students with much-needed perspective on the challenges that other young people face as well as the role of trauma in education; second, the relationship that forms between mentors and mentees will provide a peer-resource for young people once they succeed in getting admitted to college, providing them with one person they can go to with questions or concerns about the practical realities of being in a college setting. For first-generation college students, like many of the young people served by Boulder Voices for Children, these kinds of relationships are crucial to their success.